
Qass 



Book 3^"^- 



OETleiAL DONATION. 



RECEPTION 



PEESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 



CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON. 




BOSTON: 

ALFRED MUDGE ft SON, PRINTERS TO THE CITY. 

1867. 



RECEPTION 



^«2.3 



PEESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES 



CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON. 




BOSTON: 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS TO THE CITY. 
1867. 



Fl3 
.5" 



EECEPTION OF THE PEESIDENT. 



The President of the United States having signified his 
intention to accept an invitation from the Grand Lodge of 
Masons of Massachusetts to visit Boston on the twenty-fourth of 
June, 1867, and take part in the ceremonies connected with the 
dedication of the new Masonic Temple, the City Council, by an 
order approved May 28, 1867, requested His Honor the Mayor, 
"to tender the hospitalities of the city to Andrew Johnson, 
President of the United States, on his contemplated visit;" 
and the following named gentlemen were appointed a committee 
to make the necessary arrangements : 

Aldermen — 

GEORGE W. MESSINGER, 
ALBERT S. PRATT, 
CHARLES R. McLEAN. 

Councilmen — 

WESTON LEWIS, 
JOHN C. TUCKER, 
CHARLES R. TRAIN, 
WALBRIDGE A. FIELD, 
FRANCIS A. OSBORN, 
HENRY D. HYDE. 

In accordance with the request contained in the foregoing 



4 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

order, the Mayor seut the following conimuuication to the Presi- 
dent : 

Mayor's Office, City Hall, 

Boston, June 7, 18G7. 
Dear Sir: In accordance with the unanimous vote of the 
City Council, I have the honor to tender to you the hospitalities 
of the City during your contemplated visit to Boston. 

If you would be pleased to signify your acceptance at as 
early a day as convenient, it will greatly oblige 
Your most obedient servant, 

OTIS NORCROSS, Mayor. 
To Andrew Johnson, 

President of the United States. 

On the thirteenth of June, the following reply was received : 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, D. C, June 11, 1867. 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 7th instant, tendering to pie, in accordance with a 
vote of the Council, the hospitalities of the City of Boston 
during my contemplated visit. I intend being present at the 
dedication of the new Masonic Temple in your City on the 24tli 
instant, and, during my short stay in Boston, 1 will feel honored 
to accept the hospitalities of your City, receiving them with a 
reciprocation of the friendship and courtesy which prompted the 
Council in their oifer. 

With great respect, 

Very truly yours, 

ANDI^EW JO^NSON. 
To his Honor Otis Norcross, 

The Mayor of Boston, Mass. 

Upon the receipt of this communication, the Joint Special 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. O 

Committee of the City Council were called together, ami the 
preliminary arrangements were made for the proper reception of 
the Chief P]xecutive of the nation. His Excellency, the Governor 
of the Commonwealth, communicated with the committee, 
through Brigadier- General John H. Reed, Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral, and tendered an escort from the volunteer militia. 
The escort was accepted, and Colonel John Kurtz was 
appointed Chief Marshal of the military and civic proces- 
sion, to be formed at the City line. Hon. Thomas Russell, 
Collector of the Port, and Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury, of the 
Grand Lodge of Masons, conferred with the Committee in rela- 
tion to the part which should be taken in the reception and 
entertainment of the President by the Federal officers and the 
Masonic societies. 

The Committee were informed that the President, accompa- 
nied by several members of his cabinet and a number of distin- 
guished military officers, would arrive in Boston on Saturday 
afternoon. Alderman Messingcr, Chairman of the Committee, 
and Hon. John C. Tucker were deputed to meet flie President 
at Springfield. Alderman Pratt and Hon. Charles R. Train 
were appointed a sub-committee to proceed to New York and 
make arrangements for the comfort of the distinguished party 
on their journey from that city to Boston. Alderman McLean, 
President Weston Lewis, Gen. Francis A. Osborn and Henry 
D. Hyde, Esquire, were appointed to arrange for the reception 
at Cottage Farm Station. 

The members of the City Council were invited to meet 
the President in the ladies' parlor at the Tremont House at 
half past nine o'clock on Saturday evening. His Excellency 
the Governor informed the Committee that he would call on 
the President soon after his arrival. 

On Saturday morning, June 22d, at eight o'clock, the Presi- 
dent, accompanied by Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary 



b RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

of State, Major-General L. H. Rousseau, Major-General Gordon 
Granger, Colonel W. G. Moore (the President's secretary), Dr. 
Basil Norris, Surgeon U. S. A., Mr. James Donaldson, of the 
State Department, and several otlier gentlemen not holding 
official positions, left New York in a special train from the New 
York and New Haven Railroad Station. An elegant car, taste- 
fully decoi-ated, was furnished for the special accommodation 
of the President and his suite. 

At two o'clock, the train arrived at Springfield, and the 
President alighted and was entertained by the Mayor of that 
city, for a short time, at the Massasoit House. 

Upon returning to his car again, the President was welcomed 
to the State by General Reed, acting as the representative of 
the Governor, who, immediately after, introduced Alderman 
Messinger as the representative of the City of Boston. Alder- 
man Messinger said : 

President Johnson : As the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements of the City Council of Boston, 
I have the honor of paying my respects to you, and 
of stating that our citizens are desirous of seeing you, 
and that such arrangements have been made as will 
enable them to do so. I assure you that they 
highly appreciate the honor of a visit from the Chief 
Magistrate of the nation; and that everything will 
be done to make your stay with us agreeable to your- 
self and to the distinguished gentlemen who accom- 
pany you. On your arrival at Boston, I shall have the 
honor of introducing to you our Mayor, who will give 
you the official welcome of the City of Boston. 

At various stations along the route, the people assembled in 
large numbers aud greeted the President, and tiie distinguished 



RECEPTION OF THE TRESIDENT. i 

officers who accompanied him, with enthusiasm. At half past 
five o'clock, the train arrived at the Cottage Farm Station. A 
State Salute, of twenty-one guns, was fired by a Section of Capt. 
Cummings' Light Battery. The Knights Templars of Washing- 
ton, who had acted as the President's escort up to this time, 
filed out of the cars, and formed in line on the platform. The 
President and his suite then appeared, accompanied by the Com- 
mittee of the City Council of Boston, and Gen. Reed, and were 
delivered up by the Masonic body to the Cavalry Escort fur- 
nished at this point by the State. A procession was then formed 
in the following order, the carriages containing the visitors 
being provided by the city : 

Major Lucius Slade, commanding escort. 

Adjutant, Charles B. Barrett. 

Quartermaster, James H. Pushee. 

Company D, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain 
George Curtis commanding. 

A barouche containing the President, Brig.-Gen. J. H. Reed, 
and Alderman George W. Messinger, drawn by four horses. 

A barouche containing the Honorable Secretary of State, 
Major-Generals Rousseau and Granger, and Weston Lewis, 
Esquire, President of the Council. 

Fifteen carriages containing the members of the President's 
suite, the Committee of the City Council, prominent United 
States and State officers and representatives of the Press. 

Company A, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain 
Albert L. Sanborn commanding. 

Company B, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Captain Albert 
Freeman commanding. 

Company C, First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Capt. Daniel 
Hill, Jr., commanding. 

The procession marched through Essex, Mountfort, Prescott, 
Joy, Carlton, Beacon, Hawes, Colchester and Kent streets, and 



O RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Long-wood Avenue to the Roxbury line, where the INIayor of 
Roxbury and a Committee of the City Council met and welcomed 
the President to that city. The Mayor then took a scat 
in the President's liarouche, and the procession moved down 
Western Avenue to Francis Street, thence past the Norfolk 
House and the City Hall to the Boston line. Salutes were fired, 
and the bells of the Clmrchcs rung, during the passage of the 
procession. 

At the line between the two cities, three regiments of infantry 
and the marine corps, under the command of Gen. Isaac S. 
Burrell, were drawn up on the west side of the street. His 
Honor the Mayor of Boston, in a barouche drawn by six horses, 
occupied a position on the east side of the street at the right of 
the line. Before reaching the line the cavalry escort halted, 
and the President's carriage, under the escort of Gen. Burrell and 
staff, was driven down the line and halted opposite the carriage 
occupied by the Mayor. The occupants of the two carriages 
then rose, and Alderman Messinger said : 

Mr. Mayor: Allow me to present to you Andrew 
Johnson, President of the United States. 

Mayor Norcross, standing in his carriage, addressed the Pres- 
ident as follows : 

]Mr. President : I welcome you to the city of Boston ; 
nnd as the representative of the City Council and of the 
citizens, I tender you those hospitalities due so distin- 
guished a visitor. During your stay we desire that you 
should be the special guest of the city ; and, at your con- 
venience, we shall be pleased to visit with you our edu- 
cational and charitable institutions, and such places as 
are of historic interest in our neighborhood. We trust 
your time will allow you opportunity to visit some of the 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. V 

manufacturing cities and towns in our neighborhood, 
that you may witness the thrift and industry of our 
people, and more readily appreciate the source from 
which, in New England, we have derived the means 
which enable us to sustain so large a proportion of the 
burdens of the country. Again, Mr. President, I bid 
you welcome. 

The President replied : 

For this reception, tendered in such a cordial manner, 
on this my first visit to the State of Massachusetts, and 
the first placing of my foot upon her soil, please accept 
my sincere thanks. The civilities and the kindnesses 
which you propose, I accept in a spirit which I know 
you will appreciate. Permit me then to repeat that for 
this cordial reception upon my first visit to the State of 
Massachusetts, under peculiar circumstances, I return 
my sincere thanks. 

The President then took a seat beside the Mayor, and, under 
the escort of the Chief Marshal and his Aids, they rode down 
the line until they reached the centre, where they halted and 
received the sakite due the rank of the Commander-in-Chief of 
the Army and Navy. The procession was formed in the fol- 
lowing order: 

DETACHMENT OF POLICE. 

Brigadier-General Isaac S. Burrell, Commanding Escort. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Chas. W. Wikler, A'<st. Adjutant-General. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Stedman, Medical Director. 
Major Chas. A. Davis, Assistant Iiisi)cctor-Gencral. 
Captain Samuel Talbot, Jr., Brigade Quartermaster. 



10 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 



FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY. 

Colonel Geo. H. Johnston. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred N. Proctor. 
Major John McDonough. 
Surgeon Geo. J. Arnold. 
Assistant-Surgeon Robert White, Jr. 
Adjutant Henry W. Wilson. 
Quartermaster Albert E. Proctor. 
Chaplain W. H. Cudworth. 



Company A, 


Captain 


Geo. 0. Fillcbrown. 


a 


B, 


u 


Geo. H. Smith. 


u 


c, 


a 


Henry Parkinson. 


u 


D, 


a 


J. P. Jordan. 


u 


E, 


u 


Francis C. Choate. 


a 


F, 


a 


William Evans. 


« 


G, 


li 


T. A. Cranston. 


u 


H, 


u 


John Quincy Adams 


ii 


T, 


a 


Edw. Merrill, Jr. 


u 


K, 


u 


Moses E. Bigelow. 



SEVENTH REGIMENT INFANTRY. 

Colonel Daniel G. Handy, 
Lieutenant- Colonel Marsli A. Ferris. 
Major Louis N. Tucker. 
Surgeon William H. Page. 
Quartermaster James C. Laughton. 

Company A, Captain C. E. Niebuhr. 
" B, " R. W. Kenyon. 

" C, First Lieutenant J. W. Martin. 

" D, Captain C. E. Spaulding. 
" E, " H. J. Hallgreen. 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 11 

Company F, Captain J. Q. Bird. 

'' G, " J. E. Grecnleaf. 

" H, Second Lieutenant D. C. Smith. 

" I, Captain Gurdon S. Brown. 
" K, 'I M. J. Dunn, 

NINTH REGIMENT INFANTRY. 

Colonel P. R. Guiney. 
Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. Farrcll. 
Major James McArdlc. 
Suri^eon P. A. O'Conncll. 
Assistant-Surgeon John B. Moran. 
Adjutant P. B. Murphy. 
Quartermaster J. J. Flynn. 
Chaplain Joseph B. O'Hagan. 

Captain Timothy Teaffe. 
" Eugene McCarthy. 
" John Mulloy. 
" Michael Scanlan. 
" J. F. Doherty. 
" John D. Ryan. 
" James White. 
First Lieutenant Peter F. Rourke. 
Captain Bernard F. Finan. 
" Robert A. Miller. 
Detachment from the U. S. Marine Corps, under the command 
of Brevet-Major George Butler. 

Chief Marshal, — Col. John Kurtz. 
Aids, — Capt. S. G. Adams, Lieut. Paul Vinal. 
His Honor the Mayor and the President of the United States, 
in a barouche drawn by six horses. 

The Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements; the 
Representative of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and 



Company A, 


a 


B, 




c, 




D, 




E, 




F, 




G, 




H, 


ti 


I, 


u 


K, 



1*2 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

the Honorable Secretary of State of the Uoited States, in a 
barouche drawn by four horses. 

The Committee of Arrangements ; Members of the President's 
party ; officers of the City, State and United States, in fifteen 
barouches. 

First Battalion of Light Dragoons, Major Lucius Slade. 

First Battery of Light Artillery, Captain Lucius Cummings. 

The procession marched through Washington. Boylston, 
Arlington, Beacon, Park, and Tremont streets, to the Tremont 
House. In most of the streets through -wliich the procession 
passed, a largo number of people assembled, and in various 
ways manifesied ilioir respect for tlie distinguished visitors. As 
the President and the Secretary of State descended from their 
carriages and passed into tlie Tremont House, there was consid- 
erable enthusiasm. 

The President and his suite were conducted to the ladies' 
parlor, and, after a few moments' rest. His Excellency Governor 
Bullock and staff were ushered in, and the Governor was in- 
troduced to the President by General Reed. Governor Bullock 
addressed the President as follows : 

Mr. President: I have the honor of officially and 
personally welcoming you and your parly to tbc Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. Quite a number of your 
predecessors in the hi^h office you hold have visited our 
State, and your visit, like theirs, excites our devotion to 
the Union of these States and our desire to manifest by 
all possible means our respect for those who represent 
our national government. I trust that you will prolong 
your stay in Massachusetts long enough to enable us to 
show you how sincere is our devotion to the national 
government which you represent, as well as our respect 
for you personally. I again cordially welcome you to 
Massachusetts. 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 13 

The President responded as follows : 

In reply, I can only say that I tender you my thanks 
for the Avelcorae I have received in visiting Massachu- 
setts. I would he doing myself injustice were I to 
attempt to conceal the emotions and feelings which have 
been produced since I placed my feet upon the soil of 
Massachusetts. Her early history in connection with the 
Union of these States, it is not necessary for me to recite 
on this occasion to those who are more familiar with it 
than myself. It is known to all ; it has become the his- 
tory of the country. In visiting Massachusetts, under 
the peculiar circumstances that I do, and to receive such 
a welcome, is peculiarly gratifying to me. I have 
listened with great pleasure to your remarks in reference 
to the Union and the preservation of the Union of these 
States, and in this connection I think I am not to be con- 
sidered egotistical when I say that I yield to no one in 
my devotion to the Union and my desire for the preser- 
vation of the Union of these States. It is not my inten- 
tion to make a speech, but simply to tender you here my 
sincere thanks for the cordial welcome which has been 
extended to me in visiting Massachusetts, and especially 
the city of Boston. 

Gov. Bullock then presented the members of his staff individ- 
ually to the President. At ten o'clock the members of the City 
Council assembled at the Tremont House and were presented to 
the President by the Mayor, Gilmore's Band afterwards per- 
formed several pieces in front of the hotel. A very large num- 
ber of persons assembled, and in response to numerous calls the 
President appeared at one of the windows, and was introduced 
by the Mayor. He made a few remarks to the assemblage, and 



14 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

was followed by the Ilonoraljle William IT. Seward, Secretary of 
State. 

The ironoralilo A. W. Kandall, I'o.stiiiastcr-Goncral, was de- 
tained ill New York on Satur<lay moniiiii^, and did not arrive in 
]Joston until late in the evening. 

On Sunday morning, by invitation of the Collector of the 
Port, the President, accompanied by several distinguished 
ofliccrs and citi/x-ns of Boston, visited the School-ship George 
M. Barnard. The usual religious services were performed, and, 
at their conclusion, addresses were made by Hon. N. P. Banks, 
licv. Father Taylor and Postmaster-General Randall. 

Jn the aftoi-nooii, the President, accompanied by Ills Honor 
the Mayor, and a few members of his suite and of the City 
Connriittee, visited Brookline, Mount Auburn, and the residence 
of Mr. Alvin Adams. 

On Monday, — St. John's Day, — the President's time was 
given entirely to the Masonic ceremonies. The Municipal 
corporation had no olTicial part in the progrannnc. The 
Wv.athei- was highly favorable, and the public dis|)lay was, in 
sfnne respects, more iin[)Osing than any previously made in this 
city. Th(! Masonic societies from New England, and the 
delegates Irom the highest organizations in all parts of the 
countiy, who met here to take part in the ceremonies of the 
day, numbered over thirteen thousand. The lunnber of persons 
visiting the city from the surrounding towns and cities, was 
larger, according to the railroad returns, than ever before 
known. 

At I) o'clock, lh(! President was waited upon at the Tremont 
House by Hon. .lohn T. Heard, J)r. VVinslow Lewis and VVm. 
I). Cooliduv, i'-s(|iiiic, ra<l, (Jrand Maslei-s of the (Jrand Lodge, 
and (■on(hi(;tc(l by tliein to the hall in Sunnner Street. 'J'he 
l'resi(l(!nt was there introduced to the Grand Master, Charles C. 
J)ame, and the Society then marched in procession to the new 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 15 

Temple in Tremont Street. The dedicatory services were 
performed, and the President made a few remarks, expressing 
his thani^s for the honor of being invited to attend and partici- 
pate in the ceremonies. 

At the conclusion, the President, accompanied by the Grand 
Master, proceeded to join the procession which was forming on 
Boston Common. The carriage in which they were seated 
occupied a position near the Pleasant Street gate, and the 
procession, as it marched from the Common, passed in review 
before them. Along the entire route — through Boylston, 
Arlington, Beacon, Tremont, Cornhill, Dock Square, South 
Market, Commercial, State, Washington, Franklin Square, New- 
ton, Shawmut Avenue, Union i*ark, Tremont and Winter streets, 
to the Music Hall — an immense number of people had collected. 
The President was generally received with cheers and waving 
of handkerchiefs, and the carriage in which he rode was tilled 
with flowers handed to him at various points on the route. 

On arriving at Music Hall, at half past four o'clock, an 
address was delivered by Rev. William S. Studley, Past Gi'aud 
Chaplain of the Grand Lodge. 

At six o'clock the President was escorted by the Grand 
Lodge to the Masonic Temple, and partook of a banquet in 
Egyptian Hall. In response to a complimentary sentiment 
from the Grand Master, he made a brief address. 

The programme arranged for Tuesday embraced an official 
call upon the Governor at the State House ; a visit to Charles- 
town, Bunker Hill and the Navy Yard, and an excursion among 
the islands in the harbor. 

At ten o'clock, the President, accompanied by Secretary 
Seward, Postmaster-General Randall, jMajor-Gcneral Rousseau, 
His Honor Mayor Norcross, and Brig.-Gen. J. H. Reed, took 
carriages at the Tremont House and proceeded to the State 
House. The Lidependcut Corps of Cadets, Lieut.- Col. C. C. 



16 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Holmes commanding, were drawn up in front, and received the 
visitors with the usual salute. The President and those who 
accompanied him were conducted by the Sergeant-at-Arms to 
the Representatives' Hall, where the Governor, with the members 
of his staff and council, and a large number of invited guests, 
were in waiting to receive them. The President and the two 
Secretaries advanced to the dais in front of the Speaker's 
Chair, and were cordially greeted by the Governor, who 
addressed the President as follows : 

Mr. President: I have great pleasure in the honor 
of welcoming you to this hall, in the presence of so many 
who are connected with the administration of the Federal 
and the State Government, and to present you to our 
citizens. 

I could wish, sir, that you might have a longer stay 
among us, to observe more thoroughly the objects of 
common interest and local history, our institutions and 
our people. The visit of the President of the several 
States, I regard as an augury of the harmony, strength 
and stability of our Union. The President renders an 
important service to the whole country by becoming 
himself an exemplar in promoting that mutual acquaint- 
ance among the States which contributes largely to make 
us one in patriotic affection, as we are one in national 
interest. 

It is, therefore, Mr. President, in the interest of the 
general welfare, as well as in the indulgence of local 
pride, that I take great pleasure in welcoming you to the 
capital of the State. 

To this address the President responded as follows : 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 17 

In responding to your complimentary remarks, I can 
truly say that I return you my sincere thanks. Your 
allusion to the chief magistrate of the nation is one 
which is well fitted to produce that harmony among 
the citizens of the several States which we all so much 
desire. 

I did not anticipate making an address in being pre- 
sented to you this morning; but I will remark, as you, 
sir, have alluded to it, that if we were more in the habit 
of coming in contact with each other, and if we saw 
more of each other, we should see things alike much 
more than we do, and those differences which now exist 
would be found to be only imaginary. The angles and 
sharp corners which exist now would be removed by our 
coming together more, and many prejudices which now 
prevail might be removed. 

The people of these States should stand in harmony 
with each other. Much of the difference of opinion 
among us arises from the fact that our nation is too large. 
I know that some think it is otherwise ; but I will take 
the converse of the proposition; I think our nation is too 
large. The whole cannot get along without the parts, 
nor the parts without the whole. We should be a united 
people; and this being done, we should be a prosperous 
and happy people. Allow me to present my sincere 
thanks to you, sii', and through you to the people of 
Massachusetts, for the many manifestations of kindness 
and respect which I have received since I have been 
among them. 

The Secretary of State, Mr. Steward, was then presented to 
the Governor by his Honor the Lieutenant-Governor. 
3 



18 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 



Governor Bullock addressed the honorable Secretary as 
follows : 

Mr. Secretary Seward : We tender to you the honor 
of receivmg the welcome to Massachusetts. It is no 
novelty to you to receive words of welcome from her 
people. They gave to you many years ago, proof of their 
appreciation of your services in the interest of human 
rights, rendered in the Senate of the United States. 
Beyond any purpose of compliment, which would be as 
distasteful to you as to me, I should be unjust to the truth 
of history if I were not to express my thanks in behalf 
of our people, for the great success with which you have 
conducted the foreign relations of the country through 
the most trying period of its history. At a time when 
our nationality was menaced, scarcely less from abroad 
than at home — when diplomacy meant statemanship, 
philosophy and art — we all placed our confidence 
largely in the Department of State. I welcome you here, 
sir, to receive our cordial recognition of that high public 
service. 

The remarks of the Governor were warmly applauded, and, 
at their close, the Secretary of State responded as follows : 

Governor : I derived my first lessons in the science 
of human rights from INfassachusetts. The same vener- 
ated lips that taught me the duty of maintaining the 
advancement of human rights and the advancement of 
the interests of the American nation and people, 
revealed to me confidentially more than twenty years 
ago. this truth. It was whispered not only with appre- 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 



19 



hension then, but received with alarm and terror on my 
part, that, in the defence of human rights, there might 
be felt a civil war which meant the dissolution of the 
American Union. That came from the lips of John 
Quincy Adams. 

When I saw that fearful crisis coming, I knew that it 
required more wisdom and more exertion to save the 
nation, with its precious burden of human rights, than 
it had required to establish it. It was then with deep, 
with profound apprehension that I received the announce- 
ment that it depended on me to take an important part 
in the work of saving that Union. 

If I have pursued my humble part in such a manner 
as to deserve the thanks of Massachusetts, I am honored 
more than John Adams w^as when he entered the city of 
Philadelphia as a member of the first Congress, and pro- 
claimed the birth of the nation. 

I thank you, sir, for giving me the opportunity of re- 
newing my acknowledgments to Massachusetts. She was 
the leader in establishing the nation; and if we are 
doing anythiog to restore that Union, to make it more 
glorious and more bright and more liopeful to humanity 
than ever, it is because our inspiration has been derived 
from Massachusetts. 

Hon. J. A. Pond, the President of the Senate, then presented 
to the Governor tlie Hon. A. W. Randall, Postmaster-General. 
The Governor addressed the Postmaster-General as follows : 

Governor Randall: I avail myself of a very agree- 
able personal acquaintance with you to welcome you to 
Massachusetts. Permit me to congratulate you, and to 



20 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 



present you to those present, in the double capacity in 
which we are happy to know you, as the eminent citizen 
and late Chief Magistrate of that rising State in the West 
to which many of the citizens of Massachusetts have re- 
moved, with their fortunes and their hopes, and as now 
the executive minister of an important part of the general 
government, which I have the best reason to know you 
have admmistered with equal justice, patriotism and 
liberality. 

The response of the Postmaster-General was as follows : 

I thank you, sir, for the very kind manner in which 
you have spoken to me to-day, knowing as I do, that 
these compliments to myself are very undeserved. I come 
as the shadow here, of greater and stronger men. I am 
gratified, however, with your kindly allusion to my State. 
Wisconsin was once a part of Virginia, and she grew up 
under the tree of liberty. She has grown as a young 
State, rich and strong, forgetting never her early lessons 
which she received from Massachusetts. She received 
her early lessons from Massachusetts and New England. 
I am myself from the New England stock, I love many, 
most, I may say, of the institutions of New England. 
I may say I love all her institutions while I do not love 
all her notions. 

My father was born here, and so I look more kindly 
upon the differences of opinion which have grown up 
between the East and the West, the North and the South, 
than I should, perhaps, were there no ties of that kind 
binding me to this portion of the country. 

We have grown great and rich and strong from small 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 21 

beginnings. The life of our nation is not like the life 
of a nation of the old world. We have grown more 
rapidly than they. Their lives were all interwoven with 
epochs and eras, taking hold on the ends of centuries, 
while we, within a little more than three score years, 
have grown to be forty million people, and have more 
than four millions of square miles in territory. We 
have tried the experiment whether liberty can be main- 
tained while dominion is so widely expanded. I trust 
w^e may succeed by having as much wisdom as we have 
knowledge, as much Christianity as we have religion. 
While remembering that the ancient republics fell, 
though they had art and science, let us bear in mind 
that they were not strong, because they had no Christian 
civilization behind them. Let us see to it that our 
civilization shall be Christianized, that purity of pur- 
pose shall overshadow and underlie and permeate all 
our people, in letters, in religion, in politics, and in all 
things where we are called upon to act. 

The ladies and gentlemen who had assemljled in the hall were 
then introduced to the President and the two Secretaries. 
After visiting several departments in the State House, they 
returned to the Tremont House. At eleven o'clock the Presi- 
dent and his suite, and the Mayor and Committee of the City 
Council of Boston were escorted by the Mayor of Charlestown 
and the Prescott Light-Guard, (Company D, First Battalion 
of Light-Dragoons,) to Monument Square in Cliarlestown, where 
a large number of citizens, and children of the Public Schools 
had gathered. Arrived at the base of the Monument the Mayor 
welcomed the President to the city. The President replied 
briefly, and was then presented to the members of the City 



22 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Government. The President of the Bunl<cr Ilill j\roniTmcnt 
Association, Hon. G. Washington Warren, and tlic Directors 
of the Association, were then introdnced by the Ma^or. Mr, 
Warren made a welcome address which was responded to 
by the President. The Scliool Children, assembled in front of 
the Monnment, sung "America," in a manner which called forth 
much enthusiasm. 

When the children had concluded their singing, the President 
said, — 

" My heart is grateful to you, children, for this kind 
greeting. No American can fail to feel a deep interest 
in the children and youth of our country. To-day, 
tender in years, you are enjoying the advantages of the 
admirable school-system of your time-honored State ; 
to-morrow, as it were, having become full-grown men, 
or having attained the age of womanhood, the gov- 
ernment will pass into your hands ; and upon you will 
depend the perpetuation of its great and noble princi- 
ples. Look around you, little children. See this tower- 
ing Monument, the substantial buildings that surround 
you, these elegant church-edifices, and these commodious 
school-houses. Not only are these held in trust for you 
by your fathers, to be transferred to you in a few 
fleeting years, but this whole country, with its extended 
area, its free institutions, its humane government, and 
its vast and varied interests, will be committed to your 
care for the weal or woe of humanity. Cornelia, the 
noble Homan matron and the mother of the Gracchi, 
when, in a company of ladies who were displaying to 
each other their jewels, she was asked where her gems 
were, replied, proudly pointing to her children, as she 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 23 

saw them at a distance advancing towards her, " These 
are my jewels ! " Why may not I, standing as I do in 
the position of the Chief Magistrate of the RepubHc, 
call you, little boys and girls, the jewels of the nation^ 
You are its hope ; and it behooves you so to improve 
the opportunities afforded you as to be able, when the 
time arrives, to bear the heavy responsibilities which, 
now resting upon your fathers, must soon devolve upon 
yourselves. Strive to fit yourselves to become useful 
citizens of this great Republic ; study well and seek to 
understand the principles upon which it is founded ; 
recollect that you are Americans ; let it be your aim to 
fit yourselves for the practice of the duties of life, and 
faithfully to fulfil all the requirements of the law of 
God, and the laws of man, and the Constitution of your 
country. 

" I again thank you, children, for your kind welcome ; 
and if I have given utterance to anything which may 
prove a controlling influence in your future aims of life, 
— and there is a turning-point in every one's history, — 
I shall feel happy in the thought that I have been 
instrumental in accomplishing some good in my visit 
here to-day. May the blessings of Heaven be with 
you ! Farewell ! " 

The visitors soon after accompanied iMr. Warren to his resi- 
dence near by, and the President was there hospitably enter- 
tained and introduced to a large number of ladies and gentle- 
men. At one o'clock the party proceeded to the Navy Yard, 
where they partook of a generous collation by invitation of 
Commodore Rogers, and were introduced to Mrs. Rogers, to the 



24 RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

officers attached to the Station, and to many ladies and gentle- 
men. After leaving the Commodore's house, the battalion of 
United States Marines, drawn up in line, saluted the Commander- 
in-Chief as he passed. The workmen, in large numbers, were 
also drawn up in line, and heartily cheered the President. 

A salute was fired from the Receiving-ship Ohio. The com- 
pany then took passage in a steam tug, and were conveyed to 
the School-ship George M. Barnard, lying off the end of Long 
Wharf. 

The gentlemen invited by the Committee of the City Council 
of Boston to participate in the harbor excursion — including the 
prominent officers of the United States, State and City Govern- 
ments, and the leading professional and business men in the 
city, — assembled on Long Wharf at 1 1 o'clock, and were con- 
veyed to the School-ship by tugs. On the arrival of the Presi- 
dent from the Navy Yard, a salute was fired from the ship, and 
the yards were manned. The ship was then towed down the 
harbor for a short distance, receiving salutes from Fort Lide- 
pendence, Fort Winthrop and the United States Frigate 
Guerriere. A large number of swift-sailing yachts and steamers, 
gaily decorated with flags and streamers, accompanied the ship, 
and gave to the scene in the harbor a brilliant and animated 
appearance. 

At half past three o'clock in the afternoon, the President, the 
Secretary of State, the Mayor, and a few others, went on board 
the Navy Yard tug and returned to Boston. 

In the evening an informal reception was given in the ladies' 
parlor at the Tremont House. Although no special invitations 
had been issued, and the opportunity to be presented to the dis- 
tinguished visitors was not generally known, there was a large 
attendance of citizens of all classes from an early hour until late in 
the evening. His Honor, ]\Layor Norcross, gave the introductions 
to the President, and Hon. George W. Mcssinger presented the 
visitors to the Secretary of State and the Postmaster-General. 



RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 25 

On Wednesday morning, the President and his suite, accom- 
panied by the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, the 
Chief of Police, and others, left the Treinont House in barouches, 
under the escort of the Knights Templars of Washington, and 
proceeded to the Worcester Railroad Station. A special car 
was attached to the regular New York train, and at half past 
eight o'clock the President's party started for Hartford, Con- 
necticut, attended by Lieutenant- Colonel Charles L. Peirson, of 
the Governor's staff. 



$My'05 



